Greeting the Sun…

…And then Bran the Blessed commanded his head to be struck off. ‘Take the head,’ he said ‘and cross over to the other side, carry it to the White Mount in Lugdunum, and bury it there facing South.’…

… ‘You will be a long time on the road, feasting seven years in Harddlech with the Birds of Rhiannon singing to you, and the head will be as pleasant company to you as ever it was’…

…‘At Gwales in Penfro you will be fourscore years, abiding there with the head, uncorrupted, until the Western Door be opened when you must make your way to Lugdunum to bury the head.’…

…And the Head of Bran the Blessed was struck off, and the Company made their way towards Harddlech and the head went with them and there they sat themselves down and began to feast on meat and drink…

…And even as they began to eat and drink there came three birds which began to sing them a certain song, and of all the songs they had ever heard each one was unlovely compared with that song…

…And far must they look to see the singing birds over the deep, yet the song the birds sang was clear to them as if they were close by them; and at that feasting they were seven years…

…At the end of the seventh year the Company set out for Gwales as instructed and there was for them there a Fair Royal Palace overlooking the sea, and in it was a Great Hall…

…The Company went into the Great Hall, and two doors they saw open to the North and South and a third door to the West stood closed. ‘See yonder,’ said Manawydan, ‘the door we must not open.’…

…And that night the Company were there without stint and were joyful and despite all the suffering they had endured no memory of it came to them nor any memory of any sorrow in the world…

…There the Company passed Four-Score Years and none of them were aware of having spent a time more joyous and delightful and none of them grew any older than when they had first come there…

…Nor was it any more irksome to them having the Head there than when Bran had been with them alive. And because of this the Company was renamed and was called the Assembly of the Wondrous Head…

…’And after Four-Score Years Heilyn son of Gwyn said, ‘Shame on my beard if I do not open the Western Door to know if that which is said of it is true.’ So he opened the door and looked on the West and when he looked the Company were conscious of every loss they had sustained, and of every friend and kinsman they had missed and of every ill that had come upon them as if it had just befallen them. From that same moment they could not rest until they set out for Lugdunum and on reaching White Mount they buried the head which deed is one of the Three Happy Concealments for no plague can come to this Isle whilst it is buried here.

Please respect the copyright of all original material and images on this site. You are welcome to use excerpts, reblogs and links as long as clear, named credit and appropriate links back to this site are used. Written permission is required for all other reproduction. Thank you.